An injured infant child receives medical care at the emergency room in the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, October 24, 2024, amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. – The Kamal Adwan hospital is the only medical facility still partially functioning in the area targeted by Israel in a major air and ground assault in October. The hospital director Hossam Abu Safia warned that the facility has “no medicine or medical supplies”. Despite the exodus of tens of thousands of civilians, around 400,000 have been trapped by the fighting, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned the previous week. (Photo by Agence France-Presse)
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that two children died at the last functioning hospital in the territory’s north after Israeli fire hit oxygen equipment, while the military told Agence France-Presse it was unaware of strikes in the area.
“Two children have died in the intensive care unit after the hospital’s generators failed and the oxygen station was targeted,” said a health ministry statement about the Kamal Adwan Hospital in north Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp.
Israeli forces “are searching the hospital and firing within different departments, increasing the panic and anxiety,” the ministry added.
READ: Gaza ministry says Israeli forces detain hundreds at hospital
The Israeli army when contacted told Agence France-Presse that they were “not aware of live fire and strikes in the area of the hospital.”
The ministry said that some 600 people were inside the hospital, including patients, injured people, medical staff, and others.
READ: Israeli strikes on northern Gaza leave at least 87 dead or missing
Earlier Friday, the Israeli military said its forces were operating around the hospital in the Jabalia camp, where it launched a major operation earlier this month.
The ministry said the military had detained hundreds of staff, patients and displaced people during the raid.
The operation has sparked fresh concerns about the war’s civilian toll, with UN rights chief Volker Turk saying the conflict’s “darkest moment” was currently unfolding in northern Gaza.